Customer Reviews

Sundays with Walt and Skeezix

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm a long time reader of vintage American newspaper strips and have purchased many books over the years, from Toonerville to Little Orphan Annie. My favorite reprint volume was a collection of "Poly & Her Pals" by Cliff Sterrett -- until now. This book is officially the best reprint volume I own. To see King's brilliant Sunday pages printed at their actual size is in itself remarkable. The added details and touches of the printing and binding just add to the luster of this amazing book. The real goal here must have been to recreate what the strip looked like the day these panels were first printed, and they have succeeded admirably. The paper stock and colors are true to the printing style of a newspaper -- not the garish overly saturated re-coloring that is done so often with reprint books. The extra biographical detail is first rate. Chris Ware and his associates are to be congratulated on this wonderful book.

I've never expected my son (who is 4) to take an interest in the crusty old comics I enjoy, but this book has really pulled him in. He asks to see it almost daily. Frank King was an amazingly visual story teller, and each Sunday page really takes one's imagination somewhere. That seems to transcend the vast generational differences between my 21st century kid and those who loved this comic nearly 90 years ago.

This gigantic collection is worth every cent. Fantastic art - in it original size - great color and the warm and wonderful characters that Frank King vividly brings to life. This and the first three volumes of dailies are musts for any collection of classics.

I have snapped up the dailies of Walt & Skeezix as quickly as they come out. The sunday spreads are well known for the magnificent artwork, and as soon as I found that at least some of them could be found in book form, I knew I had to have it. I am not disappointed, and have marvelled at the artistry of Frank King. Too bad comics today cannot be as well executed as these (with the possible exception of "Mutts" by Patrick McDonnell).

This is a perfect book except for one thing: the typeface used for the extensive text section is WAY too small, made all the more glaring by the gigantic size of some of the photos that are reproduced. I actually needed a magnifying glass to read some of it because the book is so big you can't hold it very close to your face.

Otherwise, it's 5 stars all the way -- fine printing, great paper stock, well bound, beautiful color, and BIG! If there are subsequent volumes, I hope the publisher will correct this one annoyance. Regardless, if you are the slightest bit interested in Gasoline Alley, you will be delighted to own this book.

Sunday press is to be commended on every account. This oversize volume so far exceeds expectations that I can't imagine anyone producing anything finer. Color, graphic reproduction, binding, dustcover, extra posters and surprise enclosure. Research and scholarship. Finally shipping and communication with the buyer (yours truly), all above and beyond compare. Thank you Amazon, thank you Sunday press, and most of all, thank YOU Frank King for the years of nonpareil illustration and story telling.

Walt and Skeezix daily reprints are so wonderful in every way that I was delighted to see the Sunday reprints published in a book. Like the daily strip reprints, this is a high quality book, with top quality paper, binding, etc. I disagree with other comments regarding the colors. It's a reprint of Sunday funnies, so the quality isn't going to look like a colored etching!

My nitpicks are few: First, The collection seemed to be the whimsical Sunday strips through the years. I would prefer to see a chronological collection rather than the dream sequences. Secondly, the photos of the King family were not new, meaning that most of them appeared in the daily strip books that have already been published. My third and last nit is that the book is way too BIG! In fact, it is so huge that it won't fit in my bookcase, and now I have a problem. Where am I going to put this book? I would have been happier with a much smaller book. And, even though the book is huge, there are some captions contained therein that are in such small fonts that they are difficult to read.

I'm eagerly anticipating new volumes of the daily strip reprints! Too bad they can't produce them quicker...

Thus, my rating is downgraded by one star, sorry!

What a letdown. Despite the publisher's claims, there does not appear to be much digital restoration as far as the colors go. I am amazed that no one has mentioned this! They are blotchy, pale and washed out looking in places, and the blacks are splotchy and not crisp and solid. Look at the purples and shades of orange; very uneven tonal quality. The COVER is beautiful; why couldn't the colors inside the book look like that? Compared to Blackbeard's SMITHSONIAN BOOK OF COMIC ART, which has a handful of GASOLINE ALLEY Sundays, the reproduction is far inferior. And THAT book came out DECADES ago, before "digitalization" and all the modern advances in reproduction!

Even sadder is when you compare it to one of the ORIGINAL pages. It's hard to believe that the gravure process used in the early 1900's when these first appeared is BETTER than the printing of today, BUT IT IS. There are nuances and shades that are not replicated in today's printing. Sadly, you see this in the modern repros of Prince Valiant, the Little Nemo pages... people have NO IDEA of the breath-taking beauty these pages ORIGINALLY had.

I wanted to like this book, and appreciate anyone that is bringing old masterpieces and forgotten or ignored classics to light. But what a bummer, man...

This is a fantastic book. If you are a fan, or collector of old Sunday Funnies, you must add this book to your library. The Comics are full size copies of the orginal strips, in full color. Strips span from 1921 to 1934. The book measures 16 inches by 21 inches. Ouite large, compared to most comic collections.

I really like this book. It is so different from anything I have in my extensive library. It's colorful and well done.

I bought this book on the name of Chris Ware and i don't regret it at all.
It's an amazing book, a perfect work !